| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Mar 2009 : Column 112W—continued
Dementia
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how frequently the Older People and Dementia Programme Board meets; when the Board will decide on mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy; if he will publish the details of the monitoring arrangements once they are agreed; and if he will make a statement. [260673]
Phil Hope: The Department has decided that there is to be a separate National Dementia Strategy Programme Board. The frequency of meetings has not been set but the first meeting of this new board will be on 31 March 2009 and any decisions about the monitoring arrangements will be discussed at this time.
Dental Services: Dacorum
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people from Hemel Hempstead there were on the lists of NHS dentists in Dacorum in each of the last 15 years. [260567]
Ann Keen: Information is not available for years prior to 1997.
The number of patients registered with a national health service dentist, in England, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 is available in Annex A of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report, England: 31 March 2006”. Information is provided by primary care trust (PCT) and by strategic health authority (SHA). The boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with an NHS dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to ‘registration’ is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services (“patients seen”) over a 24-month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.
The number of patients seen in the previous 24 months in England, as at quarterly intervals, from 31 March 2006 to 30 September 2008 is available in Table D3 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics, Quarter 2: 30 September 2008” report. Information is provided by PCT and SHA and is based on the PCT boundaries which came into effect on 1 October 2006.
This report, published on 26 February 2009, has been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists there were with practices in Dacorum in each of the last 15 years. [260568]
Ann Keen: The numbers of national health service dentists, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex E of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”. Information is available by strategic health authority (SHA) and by primary care trust (PCT). The boundaries used are as at 31 March 2006. Validated information is not available for earlier years.
This measure counted the number of NHS dentists recorded on PCT lists as at 31 March each year. This information is based on the old contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
The numbers of dentists with NHS activity during the years ending 31 March, 2007 and 2008 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2007-08” report. Information is provided by SHA and by PCT and is based on the PCT boundaries which came into effect on 1 October 2006. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes previously published workforce figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.
Further work is currently being undertaken to determine whether the new definition used under the new dental contractual arrangements can be applied to the years under the old contractual arrangements to produce a consistent time series.
Both sets of published figures relate to head counts and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.
Departmental Data Protection
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what scanning for vulnerabilities his Department conducts of each of its IT devices; what method is used for IT device scans; and how many vulnerabilities have been detected as a result of such scans in the last 12 months. [259720]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department uses outside specialist companies to carry out information technology security health checks of the Department’s critical information systems and this routinely includes vulnerability scanning as part of the service. As these are project or system related there has been no requirement to consolidate records of vulnerabilities discovered as part of this process.
Departmental Equality
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) role and (b) objectives are of each of his Department’s equality champions. [259645]
Phil Hope: The Department currently has four director general level equality champions as follows:
Race—Permanent Secretary, Hugh Taylor;
Disability—Chief Nursing Officer, Dame Christine Beasley;
Gender—Director-General Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships, David Behan; and
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender—Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.
Their role is to provide leadership and support to staff and staff groups within the Department around each of the equality challenges listed, including speaking at staff events and providing mentoring and advice as necessary.
The Department is currently reviewing and strengthening all of its equalities and human rights functions; this will include functions that focus on the wider health and social care system as well those that look to support staff within the Department.
Diabetes: Norfolk
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the frequency with which type 2 diabetes is acquired in Norfolk. [259401]
Ann Keen:
This Government continue to support the implementation of the Diabetes National Service Framework (NSF) and work with key partners to support the national health service in driving forward improvements in diabetes care, including the prevention of diabetes. The Department of Health, in partnership with NHS Diabetes (formerly known as the National Diabetes
Support Team) and Diabetes UK, has published reports, documents and toolkits in a number of areas that are intended to provide quality information and standards for commissioners and health care providers to help them plan and deliver services envisaged in the NSF. However, primary care trusts are responsible for commissioning diabetes services that meet the needs of their whole population.
Diabetes: Obesity
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by his Department on promoting awareness of the link between obesity and diabetes in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [259994]
Ann Keen: Since 2005, the Department has through the Section 64 General Grant Scheme (now known as Third Sector Investment Programme), given a total of £305,976 in support of three project that include raising awareness of type 2 diabetes.
In January 2008, the Government launched “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England”, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. As a part of this £372 million strategy, £75 million has been allocated for the Change4Life campaign. The campaign will support and encourage people to live healthily by helping them to make significant and sustained choices to behaviours around diet and physical activity. This will also prevent obesity and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, the NHS Next Stage Review, “High Quality Care for All”, published on the 30 June 2008, announced the introduction of the ‘Reduce your Risk’ campaign, which will raise awareness of vascular disease risk factors (including diabetes). A copy of the publication has already been placed in the Library.
Doctors: Working Hours
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many junior doctors in each NHS Trust worked more than 56 hours per week in the latest period for which information is available. [259360]
Ann Keen: This information is not held centrally.
Genito-urinary Medicine
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on genito-urinary medicine clinics in the last five years. [260419]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimated gross national health service expenditure on genitourinary medicine (GUM) for the period 2003-04 to 2006-07, the latest year for which figures are available, is set out in the following table. This includes expenditure on GUM clinics.
| Gross expenditure (£ million) | |
The introduction of new sub-categories and a change in the methodology means that a comparison between 2005-06 and 2006-07 is not possible.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients attended genito-urinary medicine clinics in the last five years. [260418]
Dawn Primarolo: Data are only available on the number of diagnoses made in a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic, not the number of patients diagnosed. Some individuals may be diagnosed with several co-infections and each diagnosis will be counted separately. The following table gives the total number of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and other diagnoses in a GUM clinic in England between 2003 and 2007, the latest year for which figures are available.
| New STI diagnoses | Other STI diagnoses( 1) | Other GUM clinic diagnoses( 2) | |
| (1) Includes recurrent and follow-up presentations. (2) Includes other conditions requiring treatment such as candidiasis and urinary tract infections. Notes: 1. The data available from the KC60 statutory returns are for diagnoses made in GUM clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as General Practice, are not recorded in the KC60 dataset. 2. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data. 3. Data are unavailable for 2008. Source: Health Protection Agency, KC60 returns | |||
Hospital Beds
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many beds there were in each NHS trust in England in each year from 2000-01 to 2007-08, with the data adjusted to reflect the current configuration of trusts. [259380]
Mr. Bradshaw: The number of occupied and available bed days and day only beds is collected annually, from national health service providers. The document, “Average daily number of available beds, NHS organisations in England, 2000-01 to 2007-08”, which shows data for each organisation as they were submitted in the relevant year, thus reflecting the NHS structure at the time of the data collection, has been placed in the Library.
Bed numbers have fallen because hospitals are dealing with patients more efficiently and more people are treated in primary care settings—experts all agree that this is the best way to deliver health care to patients.
Advances in medical technology and shorter stays for routine operations mean fewer beds are needed across the service—this is part of a long-term downward trend in the average length of stay in hospital. But where the NHS needs more beds, there are more beds. For example, in day surgery, the number of day-only beds has increased by more than 29 per cent. since 2000-01, and we now have 55 per cent. more critical care beds and 116 per cent. more intermediate care beds than we had in 2000.
Hospitals: Standards
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what best practice guidelines have been issued by his Department on (a) the management of outpatient services and (b) the booking of appointments at NHS hospital trusts in the last 10 years. [259182]
Mr. Bradshaw: Due to the breadth of the question and the time period covered, it has been necessary to undertake a departmental library search using key word criteria taken from the question.
The results of the search can be found in the document, library search—best practice guidance out-patient services and booking of hospital appointments, which has been placed in the Library.
Current guidance in relation to choose and book is available from the choose and book website at:
The National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement has also published ‘no delays’ good practice guidance, which is available on their website at:
Ketamine
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were admitted to hospital because of the effects of the drug ketamine in each of the last five years. [260415]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not collected centrally.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been treated for ketamine addiction in each of the last five years. [260420]
Dawn Primarolo: Information about clients in contact with structured drug treatment in England is collected via the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS), which is managed by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.
NDTMS does not record ketamine separately from other hallucinogens which includes mescaline; psilocybin; lysergide (LSD); phencyclidine; dimethyltriptamine; bromodimethoxyphenethylamine as well as unspecified hallucinogens.
The following data refer to clients in structured drug treatment who identify hallucinogens as their main drug of misuse.
| All persons | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |